Another poor shooting night from 3-point range, ‘dumb play’ cost Boise State at Air Force
A change in scenery didn’t do much for Boise State’s 3-point shooting woes.
After the Broncos went a combined 9-for-42 (21.4 percent) in back-to-back home losses to Nevada and Fresno State, it was hard to imagine circumstances getting any worse.
But they did.
Boise State shot just 20 percent from beyond the arc — and 16.7 percent in the second half — in a 74-60 loss to Air Force on Tuesday night at Clune Arena in USAFA, Colorado.
If their shooting trouble wasn’t enough, the Broncos were outrebounded 41-22 and senior Zach Haney committed a flagrant foul in the second half that turned Air Force’s two-point lead into eight.
“He made a really dumb play. He reached out and grabbed somebody’s foot,” Boise State men’s basketball coach Leon Rice told Bob Behler during a postgame radio interview on 670 AM.
“This day and age of replay, you can’t do that. I don’t know whether he thought somebody was going to step on him. I haven’t looked at the film on it, but you can’t make that kind of play at that time of the game.”
With the Broncos down 57-55, Haney missed a shot under the basket and ended up on the floor. As he was falling, it appeared Haney intentionally grabbed one of Air Force guard Chris Joyce’s legs, causing Joyce to fall.
Play continued down the court with the two players on the ground, and Air Force’s Lavelle Scottie drew a foul with the Falcons in the bonus.
Officials then reviewed the incident under the basket between Haney and Joyce, ruling it a flagrant foul. The result was a one-and-one for Scottie, followed by two free throws for the flagrant foul. The Falcons also were awarded the ball because officials said play must be resumed at the point of interruption.
“I’m not an expert in that rule. Those refs were adamant about it, but it makes no sense to me common sense wise,” Rice said. “What happens if three minutes went by? Then do you go back three minutes and now they get the benefit of everything that happened, plus they get the ball because they had it three minutes ago? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Scottie made 1-of-2 free throws, Joyce made both and then Air Force guard A.J. Walker knocked down a 3-pointer, giving the Falcons a 63-55 lead in a matter of 26 seconds. All three players finished in double figures, led by Scottie’s 22 points and seven rebounds.
The Broncos (8-11, 3-3 MW) started out strong in the first half, building a lead of as many as 13 points, 30-17, with 4:03 until halftime. Then Air Force (8-11, 3-4) outscored Boise State 16-3 to knot the game at 33-33 at halftime.
While Air Force’s shooting percentage from the floor improved to 63.6 percent in the second half, Boise State made just 30.8 percent of its shots in the final 20 minutes.
Derrick Alston led all scorers with 24 points and four rebounds, and Haney added 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
“We’ve just got to regroup. I think all of us, including myself, just got to look into what we can do more,” Alston said. “Defensively, I think we just have to grind more, like we were doing when we were on our win streak. .... Offensively, just keep trusting each other and keep taking good shots.”
Boise State is back at home Saturday for the second of two regular-season games against Wyoming. Action begins at 2 p.m. at Taco Bell Arena. The Broncos won 69-55 in Laramie on Jan. 2.
AIR FORCE 74, BOISE STATE 60
BOISE STATE (8-11, 3-3 MW)
ALSTON, Derrick 7-13 8-10 24; HANEY, Zach 5-8 1-4 11; JESSUP, Justinian 3-8 0-2 8; HOBBS, Alex 2-10 4-4 8; DEMBLEY, Pat 1-5 1-1 3; DICKINSON, Marcus 1-7 0-0 3; WILLIAMS, RJ 1-2 0-0 2; HARWELL, Malek 0-0 1-2 1; WACKER, David 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-55 15-23 60.
AIR FORCE (8-11, 3-4 MW)
SCOTTIE, Lavelle 8-13 4-4 22; WALKER, AJ 8-11 1-1 18; JOYCE, Chris 4-7 3-6 12; SWAN, Ryan 3-4 3-4 9; MORRIS, Caleb 1-3 2-2 5; AKAYA, Ameka 2-4 0-0 4; VAN SOELEN, Keaton 0-2 4-4 4; LOUDER, Pervis 0-1 0-0 0; BROWN, LeSean 0-1 0-0 0; TOMES, Sid 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-48 17-21 74.
Boise State................... 33 27 — 60
Air Force..................... 33 41 — 74
3-point goals — Boise State 5-25 (ALSTON, Derrick 2-6; JESSUP, Justinian 2-5; DICKINSON, Marcus 1-6; DEMBLEY, Pat 0-4; HOBBS, Alex 0-4), Air Force 5-16 (SCOTTIE, Lavelle 2-5; WALKER, AJ 1-1; JOYCE, Chris 1-4; MORRIS, Caleb 1-3; TOMES, Sid 0-2; VAN SOELEN, Keaton 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Boise State 22 (HANEY, Zach 6), Air Force 41 (SCOTTIE, Lavelle 7; JOYCE, Chris 7; TOMES, Sid 7). Assists — Boise State 4 (HOBBS, Alex 2), Air Force 14 (VAN SOELEN, Keaton 5). Total fouls — Boise State 19, Air Force 18. Technical fouls — None. A — 1,790.
This story was originally published January 22, 2019 at 10:28 PM.
